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Ramón Allones Phoenicio 35 Edición Regional Líbano Regional 2015.

Boli Libertador ER Francia 2007. Also damn good. The older Ramon Allones and Boli ERs are the pick of the litter in this old grab bag of mine.

Connie A never disappoints - delicious

Enjoying a late night BBF after my son’s baseball game and a drive up to the cottage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LGC Medaille D'Or No. 3

A few tonight. 2021 E2 2019 PLPC

PL Encantos this evening with some Michters Straight Rye Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

‘09 Imperiales

C&C time. HDM Du Depute (2018) from our gracious host.

An always reliable Partagas Short while still on holiday in Spain and a close to exploding but also explosively tasty HDM Rio Seco just now.

After returning from a holiday in the Slovak mountains ... meeting with neighbors ...

SOU D4. Rich and Delicious

Have a great weekend boys. MC#4 kicking things off.

Monte 3 while playing hooky from work.

Vigia Connie 2

After a week of healthy eating and exercising I had a hankering for a big Monte.

Lusi was legendary as always Vega fina year of the ox was good, linear though but I’m not complaining

Upmann No 2. ECA SEP 01.

Back to back to back long work weeks. Took today as a mental health day. Started by getting my mom som cipro to treat a UTI. Not the start I was looking for. Oh well. Very productive yard work. About four hours in on a project that was quoted at 1,700. 30 min of mulch work left once the grass killer dries. I’ll call that productive. 2018 punch punch tubo is delightful. Mello, like the GD playlist I’m listening to right now. I dropped it on its head before lightning. Even w the abuse, a very worthy stick at the new normal prices.

Busy week. Finally time to slow down a bit. N3 maduro

Smoked a Sig VI on the drive out to the beach house this morning. Now relaxing with a Hoyo Epi 2. D4

RASS

A carry over from last year’s summer haul of smokes from our hosts - always good Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2013 number 2. Incredibly smooooth.

Really enjoying Montreal, food scene is A+

Roma Craft Intemperance

@jakebarnes Thats exactly where my Jack R stays when I come home on the weekends. Never more than 6ft. And never more than 2 if he can get to me. 😂😂 The pit just won’t let me out of her sight. My Jack R. 18” away. We measured it! 😂 17 Siglo l something from a 24:24 in June I think. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Haven’t tried once in a year or more because the last ones were all mongrel. This on is a lot smoother. Glad I got a few tubes. Not going to stress if these are my last ones. Prefer my Reyes anyway. 👍🏻 Edit: burn and draw flawless. I know some don’t like the 17 year anything but while not buying these again, I wouldn’t turn one down either.

Opus robusto for today’s lawn duty

Coloniales and coffee

thought this might be of interest to some. VIA MELVILLE HOUSE What Was Hemingway Doing in Cuba During World War II? (A Navy Reconnaissance Mission Named After a Cat, Apparently) By Andrew Feldman June 24, 2019 World War II spread its appendages around all facets of human affairs. With everything at stake, war powers amped up to collect every shard and crumb in mobilization against the enemy, insisting it would take every father, mother, daughter, and son to achieve victory against the Nazis. When the United States declared war on the Axis powers, Batista’s government pledged Cuban allegiance to the cause. Yet among the thousands that had fled to Cuba from the Spanish Civil War were many fascist Falangist elements that had triumphed over the Loyalists due to Hitler’s and Mussolini’s support. So American and Cuban officials were justifiably concerned that these elements loyal to the Axis could sabotage Allied interests. Ernest Hemingway had recently written the introduction to an anthology of short stories, Men at War. Eager to participate in the conflicts he had just been touting in the anthology, the author assured American ambassador to Cuba, Spruille Braden, that he could assemble his network of contacts from the Spanish Civil War to weed out Falangists on the island, frustrate Axis missions, and arrest any Nazis operating in their hemisphere. Enjoying the support of both American and Cuban governments, the writer “enlisted a bizarre combination of Spaniards: some bartenders; a few wharf rats; some priests; assorted exiled counts and dukes; several Loyalists and Francistas. He built up an excellent organization and did an A-One job.” Ernest expressively dubbed the spy cell the “Crook Factory,” but whether its informants were behind any of the numerous round-ups and convictions of suspected Axis agents in America and Cuba that year remains classified. Observing his anti-fascist campaigns in Spain and speculating on his Communist sympathies, Soviet agents approached Ernest in Havana at the Floridita at least twice in September 1942, but nothing, other than inebriation, resulted from these meetings. Yet the author’s “premature fascism” with Loyalist Spain, the Soviet “friends” and spies who pursued him, his recent travels to Communist China, and his rather unconventional involvement in a renegade intelligence ring raised eyebrows among several agents of the FBI in Havana, toward whom the writer had friskily expressed his disgust. These agents opened a case on the author and reported his every move to the director of “the Bureau” at that time, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover read these reports with indulgent good humor. But in his own handwriting, at the bottom of the report, the director concluded that Ernest had been an impassioned author with a grand imagination, not a traitor to his country. Hoover advised his agents to stand down, for it was only natural for a courageous and inventive artist like Ernest Hemingway to loathe their dull and dutiful kind. Thus clearing his name as a loyal American, the director nonetheless advised his agents “to discuss diplomatically with Ambassador Braden the disadvantages” of allowing a civilian, outside the purview of government authority and with a wild imagination, to head up such a mission. Though Ernest had hoped to be a spy, the Soviet NKVD (precursor of the KGB), the Office of Strategic Services, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation all seemed to conclude that he never lived up to his full potential. Understanding that supply lines would determine the outcome of the war, German high officials, studying Allied sources of fuel and metal, seized momentum and took to the offensive to cut them off. Admiral Doenitz sent German U-boats to attack key fuel sources in the Caribbean during Operation Drumbeat: mines in Guyana, refineries in Aruba, New Orleans, and Houston, oil tankers as they emerged from Venezuela. From February to November of 1942, the Germans sank over 400 ships worldwide, and 263 of these were in the Caribbean. At the entryway to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf Stream leading to the Panama Canal, Cuba occupied a strategic position for controlling naval traffic. He named this mission “Operation Friendless,” after his favorite cat. On March 12, a German submarine sent tremors across the skins of island residents when it sank the Olga, a freighter, and the Texan, an oil tanker, in the narrows between Wolf Lighthouse and Cayo Confites, very near Cayo Romano. With much of its fleet destroyed by the Japanese Pearl Harbor bombing or engaged in the aftermath in the Pacific, the United States Navy found itself outgunned and ill prepared to defend against the imminent threat of German torpedo boats in Caribbean waters, so it called for yachtsmen and small boat owners to arm themselves as auxiliaries in the fight, offering federal funds for those who joined up. As one of the first yachtsmen to respond, Ernest received 500 dollars per month from the US Navy for his reconnaissance. The money equipped the Pilar with depth charges and machine guns (and bait and alcohol), transforming his boat into an emergency defense vessel that would patrol the Cuban coast. He named this mission “Operation Friendless,” after his favorite cat. Just after the operation began, his sons, released from school for summer vacation, rushed down to Cuba to join their father and his crew of friends, a band of rag-tag sailors and would-be warriors on a real war mission against the Nazis: pursuing U-boats in the cayos while fishing, swimming, and sunning in the endangered straits of tropical paradise. During the war when gasoline was in short supply and strictly rationed to others, Ernest received tanks of gasoline, discreetly delivered from the US embassy to his home where they were routinely buried by drunken Basques in his backyard. The month that Ernest began his mission, the first gas chamber was operational at Auschwitz-Birkenau in order to exterminate Gypsies, Sinti, Jews, resistance fighters, and other prisoners of war en masse. Along for the ride were beefy British polo champion Winston Guest; wild-eyed, balding Spanish Loyalist Roberto Herrera Sotolongo; Basque pelota player Francisco Ibarlucia, or “Paxchi”; such sea- men as marine-gunner Don Saxon, “Sinbad” Juan Duñabeitia, ribald priest Don Andrés, Cuban first mate Gregorio Fuentes, communication specialist (from the American embassy) John Saxon, Catalan bar- keep Fernando Mesa; and others, like José Regidor and Félix Ermúa, aboard a few weeks but not possessing the stamina to stay with Captain Hemingway until the end. Armed with machine guns, anti-tank guns, bazookas, hand grenades, and a communication tower, a crack team of Ernesto’s closest friends headed directly to the source of the torpedo attack in the crystalline waters between Cayo Guillermo and Santa Maria, between the palms, beneath the sun, and guided by boat captain and tavern owner Augustín Tuerto, “Guincho,” who knew the terrain and took the author through the mangroves in the straights near Cayo Francés to the exit point near Nuevitas. Ernest considered mounting heavy machine guns to the Pilar but later recognized this idea as impractical. Instead, his crew would have to lure the “Krauts” to the surface, direct fire at the U-boat’s steel hull (to suppress use of their 88 mm deck guns), and move in just close enough for one of his jai alai players to lob a grenade in the conning tower with his special skills. An insane plan, which he pursued with the same wild imagination and delight as he did his childhood adventures in the Walloon woods with his father. Now the son hunted the bad guys with his own children and a passion resembling obsession. When she was away, he complained of loneliness—he might “die of sadness” without her and without sex: “[Mr. Scrooby] probably will be permanently ruined for disuse.” At first praising her husband’s bravery, Martha avoided inconvenient questions and accepted an assignment with Collier’s that summer, taking a two-month hiatus to study the effects of the war on several Caribbean islands. When she returned and found Operation Friendless continuing, Martha departed to New York and Washington, DC. When she was away, he complained of loneliness—he might “die of sadness” without her and without sex: “[Mr. Scrooby] probably will be permanently ruined for disuse.” Countering her husband’s grumbles, Martha reaffirmed a necessity for fulfillment and invited him to celebrate advancements of her career: “Will you be able to come back and celebrate with me? You must be nearly nuts now, in your floating sardine box, with all those souls and all those bodies so close to you. I admire your patience more than I can ever say. You are a disciplined man. I love you Picklepot. Are the childies having fun?” While Ernest and Martha Hemingway’s letters continued to profess their mutual longing, periods of self-imposed exile grew ever more frequent, on assignment, or at sea, with conflict kindling each time they reunited. In their relationship there was intimacy, love, gratitude for their good fortune and the moments they shared together, as well as acute sensibility to each other’s personalities, nostalgia, neglect, frustration, and bitterness. Writing him at their home, Martha entreated her husband, who had exiled himself from her on a mission in the cayos: he had been married so much and so long that she could not affect him and longed to become like they once were in Madrid or in Milan, unmarried, and happy together. Immersing herself in writing during Ernest’s absences at the edge of the sea, Martha finished a novel called Liana in June. Hunkered down near Cayo Confites hunting German submarines with his “crew,” Ernest received Martha’s manuscript, and between mission reports, mosquito attacks, pig roasts, and idn poker games, he read by oil lamp and edited it assiduously. Returning it to her, he offered reconciliation: “Let’s be friends again. ‘Lest we be friends there is nothing. It is not such a long way to go.’ Rilke wrote, ‘Love consists in this: that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.’ I haven’t protected you good, and touched you little and have been greeting you scoffingly. But I truly respect and admire you very much. And of this date and hour have stopped scoffing, which is the worst of all.” She would integrate his feedback and responded to his note with appreciation and affection: “Bug my dearest, how I long for you now . . . Oh my I love you and oh my I am homesick for you. I want to fix up your beard in beautiful braids like my Assyrian.” When Martha learned during prepublication from her publisher, Charles Scribner, that the Book of the Month Club and Paramount had passed on Liana, she wrote her husband defiantly, “In my heart, I always knew it was not destined to be a best-seller.” Yet the novel was positively reviewed by the Washington Post, the Nation, the New Republic, the New Yorker, and the New York Herald Tribune, who respectfully said that Gellhorn was an artist with “splendid sultry grace,” who had “come of age” and written a simple story with sensitive reverberations. Its 27,000-copy first printing sold quickly, making it a bestseller despite Martha’s misgivings. _________________________________________________ Excerpted from Ernesto: The Untold Story of Hemingway in Revolutionary Cuba. Used with permission of Melville House Publishing. Copyright © 2019 by Andrew Feldman.

Breakfast for one while my partner is at hot yoga. Some sort of prawn coconut concoction on rye. The sauce in the middle is amazing.

Oliva Serie V 135th Anniversary Limitada The Oliva Serie V line has been around since 2007 and, according to Halfwheel, now encompasses around forty different cigars and three different line extensions—Oliva V Melanio, Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro and Serie V Maduro Especial, as well as other cigars created for special events. A cigar line with this many releases and extensions suggests one thing...it's been popular with consumers and it's a good cigar. This recent release, the Serie V 135th Anniversary Edición Limitada, is a 54 ring gauge x 140 mm (or 5½ inches) in length perfecto which tapers only at the foot for about the length of the first third of the cigar. After that, it smokes pretty much like a larger ring-gauged parejo. This cigar commemorates the 135th anniversary of the company’s history; or more accurately, the time from 1886 when Melanio Oliva first grew tobacco in Cuba’s Pinar del Río, which is considered to be the start of Oliva as a tobacco family. Oliva didn't actually get incorporated as a company until 1995. Like other Serie V line cigars, the 135th Anniversary Edición Limitada utilises an Ecuadorian wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and filler tobacco from Nicaragua. It has the same blend therefore as normal Serie V cigars but it smokes very differently. I will explain further below. Because the ring gauge is more narrow in the first third, the flavour was more concentrated around the tip of my tongue when I first lit this up. It was also more subtle and wispy. I picked up coffee, earth, leather, baking spice and floral notes at a mild-medium strength. When the cigar went into the middle third and the ring gauge was larger, the cigar transitioned into a fuller-bodied smoke with the flavour encompassing my whole palate, as larger ring-gauged cigars often do. I got similar flavours in the middle third but there was more dark chocolate, toasted caramel and wood in the blend at this point. The final third was mainly, dark chocolate, coffee, earth, leather and especially wood. I think Oliva have done a very clever thing here with the release of this cigar. Non-Cuban cigars are often criticised for lacking transitions through the thirds or being one-dimensional, hence, with Oliva designing the 135th Anniversary Edición Limitada like this they've successfully made a more complex cigar but using the same blend as the usual Serie V line. It goes without saying that I have no doubt that if you enjoy Oliva cigars you will definitely enjoy this release. I know I did!

Montecristo No.4 GEL Feb 2022 Last year in 2021, in a review of the Montecristo No.4, I had opined that the Bolivar Petit Coronas, Cohiba Siglo II, Montecristo No.4, Por Larranaga Petit Coronas and Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas are the only premium marevas left in regular production. That's five in total. Yes...five! If we add the Sancho Panza Non Plus, the cigar that has somehow reappeared in 2022 after being discontinued in 2019, well...maybe that makes six. I did say, "maybe!" One could argue a case of the inclusion of the Bolivar Tubos No.2 and maybe even the Montecristo Petit Tubos in the 'upper-tier' classification but I would argue that the Bolivar Tubos No.2 makes a rare appearance on our forum and the Montecristo Petit Tubos invariably never does. In fact, what is a Montecristo Petit Tubos, is it a Montecristo No.4 in a tube? It probably isn't but I raise the question to highlight why that particular cigar is around nowadays and not the Partagas Petit Coronas or Ramon Allones Petit Coronas, perhaps. How about a re-release of the Diplomaticos No.4 or even the H.Upmann Petit Coronas? So consider this, of the Bolivar Petit Coronas, Cohiba Siglo II, Montecristo No.4, Por Larranaga Petit Coronas and Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas what would you smoke the most of? One thing I know, and that is, there's one cigar in that list that may possibly out-sell the others combined on an annual basis, worldwide. However, do you reach for a Montecristo No.4 as often as the rest of the world does and why does it sell so well? I would make a case that, whilst they vary in quality, and more so than other Habanos cigars, they offer a generic cocoa, milk coffee, perhaps nut, leather and/or citrus twang flavour profile which is very approachable. Perhaps, this is why they sell so well; Monte 4 are more approachable than other cigars in its vitola group. This Monte 4 was the first of a recent quarter pack acquisition of a GEL Feb 2022 box code and honestly it was generic, but still...it satisfied me fine over 70 minutes. Perhaps that 'other-worldly' Monte 4 awaits the next time I smoke from this box code? I enjoy and smoke the Bolivar Petit Coronas, Cohiba Siglo II, Por Larranaga Petit Coronas and Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas semi-regularly but the Montecristo No.4 is always in my humidor. And I mean...always!

Partagás Maduro No. 3 TUE Mar 2021 The Partagas Maduro No.3 was added along with the Partagas Maduro No.2 in 2018 to form the Linea Maduro with the Partagas Maduro No.1 introduced in 2015. It is a unique Maduro No.3 size with a 50 ring gauge by 145 mm (or 5¾ inches) length. This was my fourth Partagas Maduro No.3 from the box. I smoked my first three within three months of acquiring this box but it's been ten months since I've re-visited it. Within the Partagas Linea Maduro (as it's called) I've had Partagas Maduro No.1s the most and in my view, the Partagas Maduro No.1 has been a refined cocoa, chocolate, coffee, anise and sour cherry smoke according to my palate, in general. I wouldn't categorise it as a classic Partagas-flavoured cigar, nor a complex cigar. The Partagas Maduro No.3 is similar in profile to the Partagas Maduro No.1. This fourth Partagas Maduro No.3 started off innocuously or even inconspicuously. Forgive me in reiterating long adverbs, but paradoxically it remained that way. There was again less body or fullness of flavour than the Partagas Maduro No.1s or Partagas Maduro No.2s I've smoked in this cigar, and of course it wasn't complex; on the contrary, it was rather one-dimensional. The flavours were mainly sourdough, sour cherry and coffee. Maybe there was some cocoa/chocolate, but it was so light that it was there in the background. In regards to smoking time, give yourself around 90 to 100 minutes for the Partagas Maduro No.3. I would think my first three Partagas Maduro No.3s from the box were better than this fourth one. I might leave this box for some time and see how it further develops down-the-track.

Surprise find at the LCDH: Grand Marshall! Very nice flavors but burned quite poorly. With good burn 93-94 points easy.

Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classic The Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classic is a Perfecto measuring ¾ of an inch in diameter (i.e. 48 ring guage) and 7 inches (or 178 mm) in length. It's shaped more like a Habanos Perfecto such as a Salomones than a Taco-type cigar and thus, the AF Hemingway Classic is only slightly tapered at the head but it is predominantly tapered at the foot. There is a common urban-like adage that some have advised to snip the foot to open up the cigar and make it easier to light. Trust me, this is unnecessary. According to Arturo Fuente, the Hemingway natural line employs a combination of patiently aged Dominican filler and binder encased in a select African Cameroon wrapper. The line is said to be medium-mild to medium in body. The cold draw had notes of hay. As for flavour, I was immediately taken in by the sweet hay, cedar and creamy texture. If I'd describe the sweetness I would categorise it as having aspects of hazelnut and vanilla on the edges, which peaked just past the first third to the middle of the cigar. The cigar was mainly mild until the beginning of the last third whereby it ramped up in intensity to be medium-bodied; less sweet and more cedar and leather in profile. Construction-wise, Arturo Fuente cigars are well-known for their consistency and this was no different. The burn was even throughout with no need for any touch-ups, the draw was smooth, the ash held well and the smoke output was above average. I finished the cigar after 1 hour and fifty minutes and was highly impressed. If I were to compare it to a Habanos cigar then the H.Upmann Connossieur series immediately comes to mind. I need to add a caveat here in saying that this Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classic was acquired with a little age on it as there was no pepper or spice in the smoke, it was one-dimensional in the way the flavours had melded together and it was mild-bodied. Despite this, I really admired this cigar for how well it smoked; both flavour-wise and construction-wise. It goes without saying that I intend to acquire some more cigars within this line in the future. I suppose this is a testament to how it connected with my palatial preferences and how it exceeded my expectations for frankly how good a cigar it was.

Nudies N3 Carlota I'm coming towards the end of my acquisitions of the initial 2019 run of Nudies N3 Carlotas (and of course, Nudies N1 Lanceros) and honestly they keep getting better with age. The original intention was to make a cigar utilising Non-Cuban leaf to mimic, as closely as possible, the now long-discontinued Partagas Serie du Connaisseur No.3. And 'by God' have El Pres and Hamlet succeeded! After two-and-a-half years down this cigar truthfully just keeps developing! It is by no means a complex cigar but it wasn't blended that way. For me, it continues to deliver a simple easy-smoking experience over 75 to 90 minutes. Sometimes I get a nice lemon citrus twang, like I did today, to compliment the Partagas sourdough and leather flavours and sometimes I don't. I don't even think it matters as they are great either way. I now have three combined initial 2019 Nudies left (two N1 Lanceros and 1 N3 Carlota) but I have no qualms about the fact that I have so few remaining. I have a second run of 2021 Desnudos resting away and I look forward to smoking those, at some point, to continue this fun journey begun with the Nudies N1 Lanceros and Nudies N3 Carlotas.

Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour - Churchill Davidoff introduced the Winston Churchill Late Hour line as an addition to their Winston Churchill cigar line at 2017’s IPCPR. The Late Hour is named after the early morning period when people normally sleep, that Winston Churchill found most of his inspiration and creative spark, the late hours. What makes this cigar unique is that like the American Barrel-Aged line, which uses Honduran corojo aged in bourbon barrels, the Late Hour uses a viso from Condega, Nicaragua that was aged for six months in Speyside scotch barrels. Three Dominican tobaccos; olor viso, piloto seco, San Vicente mejorado viso and a viso from Estelí, Nicaragua are also included, together with a Mexican San Andrés negro binder and an Ecuadorian habano marron oscuro wrapper. The dimensions of the Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour Churchill is slightly bigger for a Churchill in comparison to a 47 ring gauge Habanos Churchill, i..e. The Late Hour Churchill is 48 ring gauge x 178 mm or 7 inches in length. The Winston Churchill The Late Hour has a dark chocolate-colored and oily wrapper also. The cold draw was mainly coffee and slightly peppery. Certainly, it was very different on the cold draw than any Habanos Churchill I've had. I found that this cigar had a medium-full body to it throughout and was medium to medium-full in strength. This necessitated that I slow down my smoking to savour it. The cigar was well-constructed, I seem to remember only correcting an uneven burn once. The flavours stayed fairly the same from beginning to end; coffee, oak, forest floor and mushroom. You might equate those forest floor and mushroom aspects to the cigar as flavours found in scotch like charred wood perhaps. I say this because some people find scotch flavours present in this blend but that is not what came immediately to mind when I smoked it. Nevertheless, those flavours were secondary in the blend, the coffee and oak flavours stood out more. Overall, the Winston Churchill The Late Hour by Davidoff was a nice change-of-pace from what I'm used to in comparison to other Habanos Churchill cigars such as the Cohiba Esplendidos, H.Upmann Sir Winston, Romeo y Julieta Churchills and even the Regional Edition, El Rey del Mundo Tainos. I certainly wouldn't smoke this cigar as regularly as those other aforementioned Habanos cigars, but I wouldn't mind smoking another Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour cigar on the odd occasion in the future, if only to sample a Churchill-sized cigar that is medium to medium-full in body and strength.

Bolívar Petit Coronas ETP Mar 2017 When it comes to Petit Coronas, one would think that the Montecristo No.4 so overwhelmingly dominates the market that it leaves other Petit Coronas, such as the Bolivar Petit Coronas, being greatly under-rated. As I've mentioned a number of times in this blog series over the years, I'm not as favourably-inclined to the Bolivar marca as I am to Cohiba and Montecristo, for example, but that's because I don't connect with the 'Earthy' flavours of Bolivar. It seems to me though that Bolivar was more 'Earthy' in the past than it is nowadays and I think this is true of recent Bolivar Petit Coronas and Belicosos Finos I've enjoyed in the last year or two. This Bolivar Petit Coronas again had an excellent draw and construction. My last one, smoked nine months ago, had muddled flavours but this BPC was spot on in its balance of leather, Earth, cocoa and wood, together with some dried fruit and malt flavours on the edges, which I typically enjoy. There was plenty of smoke and flavour on this cigar which prolonged its smoking time to 70 minutes. I was quite pleased with that indeed!

Romeo y Julieta Exhibicion No.4 ABO Ago 2018 My last Romeo y Julieta Exhibicion No.4 from this ABO Ago 2018 box, smoked nine months ago, was what I consider an anomaly because it was strictly average in its flavour delivery. This RyJ Ex4 was much, much better. What I typically look for in a quality Romeo y Julieta Exhibicion No.4 is a tart 'fruitiness' that is a defined characteristic of this marca. The key to the 'fruity' flavours, I believe, is to ensure one gets a box of these with rosado-hued wrappers. It makes all the world of difference to the a RyJ Ex4 cigar, in my opinion. This RyJ Ex4 had a beautiful ream of sour cherry throughout it with some cocoa, anise and oat biscuit intermingled into the blend. Last time I got an undesirable vegetal or herbal flavour that unbalanced the cigar. Thankfully, there was no evidence of that here today. I was pleased too with how long this cigar lasted...75 minutes! Not bad for a cigar 5 inches long and under 50 ring gauge!

La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4 MSU Abr 2017 The La Gloria Cubana marca has been whittled to one vitola, the Medaille d'Or No.4 and this cigar had been in hiatus since the first quarter of 2018. The La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4 has only just recently come back into production last year in 2021, with box codes indicative of late 2020. Unfortunately, it seems that the recent update to pricing by Habanos S.A has seen stock once again diminish. What caused the hiatus since 2018 anyway? In one word, in my view, 500000 sticks of La Gloria Cubana Serie D No.5s in the much-admired (from Habanos S.A's point-of-view) Petit Robusto format certainly contributed to the leaf that would normally go into a La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4 been diverted to production for the Spanish Regional Edition La Gloria Cubana Serie D No.5. This hiatus of La Gloria Cubana product is again temporary as Habanos S.A has announced last year that the La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4 will be joined in regular production by the LCDH Glorias, a 49 ring gauge x 156 mm (or 6⅛ inches) in length Flechas and Turquinos, a 50 ring gauge x 141 mm (or 5½ inches) in length Gordito. Unsurprisingly though, Habanos S.A has not managed to release these latter two additions to market quite yet but if you follow these new releases than this should come as no surprise. For me personally, the prolonged hiatus of this cigar has had an affect on my smoking habits as I smoked six La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4s in 2021 but only one thus far in 2022. This is also inclusive of the fact that I've only had two since September last year, so I'd like to humbly thank @baragh for gifting me this cigar to smoke today. The LGC Medaille d'Or No.4 has two unique characteristics as a Habanos cigar; firstly, it's one of the last truly 'long-and-skinnies' (i.e. a cigar that is less than 35 ring gauge and at around six inches in length or longer) and secondly, it has a complexity of flavours unique to its brand. In terms of this array of contrasting flavours, these can range from savoury to sweet to spicy. This LGC No.4 had a distinctive fruity, lemon-type citrus (which I quite like) from the get-go and was soon joined by a core almond nut flavour and creamy texture overall which remained throughout the cigar. I also got some wood and herbal notes on the edges. Like my last La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No.4, this was simply superb as these are the type of flavours I look for in a LGC No.4 when I smoke one. Maybe my critical appraisal of this LGC4 today is influenced by my lament of its current unavailability. However, when these smoke like this one once again today, the accolades are most certainly justified.

Rafael González Petit Coronas SOM Ene 2017 There's so few premium Marevas options nowadays that it's hard to believe that the Rafael Gonzalez Petit Corona could be thought of as a forgotten vitola. Maybe it's just a case of its current hiatus or perhaps the Montecristo No.4 and Cohiba Siglo II account for the greater majority of sales in this size (and that's taking into account the recent large price increase for the Cohiba marca). When I mean marevas, I am of course referring to a 42 ring gauge x 129 mm (or 5⅛ inches) in length handmade Habanos cigar. The Petit Corona classification used to refer to a machine-made vitola of the same length. At one stage, it seemed that close to every marca had a marevas option in their line-up. In my mind, when Habanos S.A went into a 50/50 partnership with Altidis in 2002 and then started to streamline their regular production catalogue in 2002 starting with the H.Upmann No.4, Partagas Petit Coronas, Punch Petit Coronas and Ramon Allones Petit Coronas being discontinued, this signalled the beginning of the shift towards other vitolas such as the Robustos as the quintessential Habanos size. The discontinuation of the Diplomaticos No.4 and Punch Royal Seleccion No.12 in 2010 confirmed this shift, in my view. I equate just 5 marevas as premium offerings currently; the Montecristo No.4, Cohiba Siglo II, Bolivar Petit Coronas, Por Larranaga Petit Coronas and Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas. Romeo y Julieta may have five marevas cigars in its marca but I don't view these as premium offerings, including the latest retro release, the RyJ Club Kings. And not all deletions in this vitola have had the same reaction amongst cigar enthusiasts; I doubt too many of you missed the Sancho Panza Non Plus (discontinued 2019) in the same way as the H.Upmann Petit Coronas (discontinued 2017), even despite the fact that the Sancho Panza Non Plus came back into regular production in late 2021/early 2022. This Rafael Gonzalez Petit Corona today was not as balanced in its flavours as I would have liked it to be. Sure, it had cocoa, wood and some dried fruit to it but it lacked that subtle honey sweetness and at times it was too 'Earthy' for my liking. Suffice to say, this was not the best Rafael Gonzalez I've ever smoked. However; I consider this an outlier as on the whole, my experience with Rafael Gonzalez marca cigars has been quite good and I'm willing to bet that my next RGPC will be a much better smoking experience!

I think you're right--I had a Regatta that tasted just like a 1986 Sunday New York Times.

2012 Magicos BUT JUL 12

Working my way through a mixed box of random ERs I picked up from various places about a decade ago. This I am pretty sure is a Ramon Allones "Grandes" (RE España) 2008. It doesn't feel as big in the hand or mouth as the vitola measurements would suggest. I think I got this at Gimeno in Barcelona in 2011. After several lackluster ER cigars recently, I am happy to report that this is a damn good cigar!

Vacationing in the Smokey Mountains with the family. 32 people the first 3 days in one house - aerobeds and grandchildren everywhere - then down to 21 for the next 5 days - now down to just 5 for the final week. Seems kinda lonely now. A few pictures - evening after a rain with the classic picture of why they get their name as "smokey", typical evening on the porch with Old Fashions (this is bourbon country) and then a new travel case I made up for the trip - holds > 40 cigars, two cutters, two lighters, Bovedas and the trusty PerfectDraw.